4 Girls and a Caravan

Irreverent, boozy, bawdy and brash, 4 Girls and a Caravan is cracking entertainment that is sure to have audiences cackling with laughter. Having had a rip-roaring success with the staging of Drew Quayle’s The Salon, The Theatre Royal in St. Helens has once again taken a new play and given it a platform that is set to reap rich rewards. Something that, in itself, should be roundly applauded.

Stacey and Danielle have had enough...of screaming kids, nosy neighbours and 'lazy' husbands. So they’re off to Stacey's caravan in the Welsh countryside for a weekend away from it all with mates Amber and Rhonda. What could possibly go wrong, miles from anywhere surrounded by cows, pigs, chickens and sheep?

Writers Lynne Fitzgerald and her partner Steve Simpson have taken what could have been a formulaic scenario and added an inventive twist that takes the audience by surprise. Packed with one-liners that are bound to be repeated in pubs and clubs for evermore, 4 Girls and a Caravan is a solid return to the stage for Fitzgerald, whose comic timing and acting style is exemplary.

Fitzgerald bounces brilliantly off Linn Francis playing Danielle, who again turns in a fine performance as the bored housewife from next door and so sets the tone of the play, all of which is superbly backed up by the seemingly demure Rhonda – who has a penchant for young boys and holidays in Goa – played faultlessly by Claire Bowles, and the nice-but-dim Amber, played with typical style by Suzanne Collins. Yet again, though, it is Shaun Mason who almost steals the show as Peter and, later, as game show host Louis, by turning in a shift that sets the seal on a show that is funny, feisty and fizzing with fun.

Chris High

www.sthelenstheatreroyal.com